1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for identifying points of interest in a contents sharing system.
2. Description of the Related Art:
In recent years there has been a large increase in the number of users carrying mobile devices that are capable of capturing and transmitting user information. Such mobile devices, such as point and shoot cameras or smart phones, can be equipped with sensors, such as Global Position System (GPS) sensors, that can be used to determine the location of the mobile device.
There is a need for systems that can aggregate user information along with location information in a meaningful way. Using a smart phone with a GPS sensor and a camera as an example, it will be appreciated that at many geographic locations, for example, popular tourist sites, users with such smart phones may record similar images at the same or similar GPS co-ordinates.
Users can then, for example, upload their pictures (or other multimedia files) to a cloud-based multimedia sharing service, and such multimedia images may be stored at the cloud based service along with GPS co-ordinates. It will be appreciated that, in many locations, there will be points of interest (e.g., a statue at a tourist site) that would be of interest to a large number of users who visit that location. If the number of users is great, such a cloud based service will store a large number of similar images with the same or similar GPS co-ordinates. Hence, it will be appreciated that location data alone provides a poor indication of what the image data relates to. As a result, there is a need for a technology that can provide better characterization of stored multimedia data.
In addition to points of interest that remain in a location for a considerable amount of time (e.g., a statue at a tourist site), there will also be transient points of interest that may only exist for a limited time. For example, a location, such as a town square, could host a concert located in one corner of the square. Such a concert would be a point of interest for the duration of the concert (e.g., one day). A cloud based image storage service would store a large number of images of this town square, and may have no way for users to identify which images are of the concert.
Therefore, a need exists for ways of identifying points of interest (either temporary points of interest or fixed points of interest) based on the activity of users. The identification of points of interest at a location or in a surrounding area is useful, both for real time sharing of information between mobile users, and for categorizing user data associated with that location.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.